Hokkaido Food Festival at Odakyu in Shinjuku

Starting today through Tuesday, September 13th, Odakyu at Shinjuku station (nishi guchi or west exit) will host a food festival highlighting the food of Japan’s northernmost prefecture, Hokkaido. As a two-week event, vendors will change on the second week starting on Wednesday, September 7th, giving customers a chance to come back next week for new stuff.

My favorite part of any Hokkaido food festival is the abundance of seafood, in particular, uni, ikura, and kani (crab). I always pick up a chirashizushi of the previous three seafood at these events. Hokkaido is also rich with dairy products so be sure to check out the sweets. Kombu is harvested in Hokkaido and usually there is a booth with top quality kombu for making dashi at home. If you are a ramen fan, be sure to come hungry and have a bowl of ramen here.